The applicant is requesting five years of funding through a Mentored Career Development Award (K01) in order to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to establish an independent program of research that will inform the development of effective services and service delivery strategies for women who are victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) and their children. The immediate goal of this award is to develop and conduct a preliminary test of the feasibility of an engagement intervention to promote utilization of mental health and other needed services by a population at risk for not being appropriately connected with services, specifically women and children referred to the child protective services system because of intimate partner violence. The applicant's training and experience in mental health services and family violence research provide a strong foundation for the proposed career development plan. The training goals involve advanced multi-disciplinary training and mentoring in: (1) the development and evaluation of interventions and intervention engagement strategies for intimate partner violence; (2) child protective services system practice, with a specific focus on system response to families experiencing intimate partner violence; (3) qualitative approaches to data collection and analysis; (4) longitudinal data analysis and modeling techniques; and (5) the ethics of conducting scientific research, with a particular focus on the responsible conduct of research with victims of intimate partner violence and their children. The proposed research plan will be conducted in two phases. The first phase will focus on the development of the engagement intervention. Secondary data analysis of a national probability sample of families involved with the child welfare system and of key informant interviews, participant observation, focus groups, and in-depth qualitative interviews will be undertaken to guide the development of a manual-based intervention. Expert panels and a small pilot will then be conducted to refine the intervention. In the second phase of the research, a preliminary test of the feasibility of the engagement intervention will be conducted with 40 mothers and children referred to child protective services because of intimate partner violence. The knowledge gained will enable the applicant to develop future R01 applications on engagement strategies and interventions for intimate partner violence.